PEORIA — One of the men linked to a rash of home invasions last year, including one in the WeaverRidge subdivision, pleaded guilty Monday.

Stefan Crayton, 20, of 601 W. Romeo B. Garrett Ave. pleaded guilty to residential burglary and faces a maximum of 12 years in prison when sentenced in July by Peoria County Circuit Judge Kevin Lyons, who had started the process of the plea deal on Friday but opted to wait until Monday to finalize the agreement.

The judge clearly had reservations about the deal which included a provision that prosecutors would not charge Crayton with any other crimes linked to co-defendants Perry Rosetto, 43, or Blair A. Johnson, 20, who also were alleged to have participated in the Sept. 19 break-in at the home of Ron “Doc” and Mari Halliday, 4331 Longmeadow Court.

Lyons told Crayton that if he rejects the plea agreement, Crayton could opt to withdraw his guilty plea.

In return, prosecutors agreed to drop counts of armed robbery, home invasion and aggravated unlawful restraint. Without the deal, Crayton had faced up to 30 years behind bars.

Last year, the city was terrorized by a series of home invasions that all were strikingly similar. Rosetto was the alleged leader of a crew that hit several homes between April and November of last year. Both his and Johnson’s cases are pending.

Rosetto faces 39 charges in eight cases including gun crimes, armed robbery, residential burglary, home invasion and aggravated unlawful restraint in five incidents. Both Crayton and Johnson were charged in connection with only the Halliday case.